Roberto Mancini

Former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has thanked the club's fans for their support by taking out a full-page advertisement in a local newspaper.

The former Inter Milan boss was sacked on Monday night after City lost the FA Cup final to Wigan Athletic and surrendered their Premier League title to Manchester United this season.

However, Mancini's name was regularly sung by City supporters throughout the campaign after the Italian guided the club to the league championship in 2012, the 2011 FA Cup and three successive Champions League qualifications.

Stoke City

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Pranksters in a football dressing room are nothing new with former England international Paul Gascoigne, who's among the leading exponents of the "art." But a joke among the Stoke City players has taken on a distinctly unpleasant air.

Retiring striker Michael Owen saw his car pelted with flour and eggs before he left the club's training ground on Friday (via Daily Mail), but some players decided a joke involving a pig's head would be great fun.

Sadly, Stoke striker Kenwyne Jones has failed to see the funny side after he found the head in his locker. As the Daily Telegraph reported, the former Sunderland man took out his revenge on the supposed perpetrator, teammate Glenn Whelan, by smashing the windscreen of his car.

The club has now launched an investigation into the incident ahead of the final Premier League game of the season at Southampton on Sunday.